10.09.21

Competition grows, Goa University slips to 96 in NIRF rank

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As more and more institutes and universities enter the race each year,Goa University’s rank slid to the 96th position at the National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) 2021, declared by the Union Education ministry on Thursday. The state’s lone and government-run university, however, continues to feature in the 100 best university list in the country.
In 2020, GU had improved its rank to 81st position, from 93rd position the previous year in 2019. The university’s best rank of 68th was achieved in 2018.

The competition has been growing stiffer as 4,030 institutes participated in NIRF 2021, which was more than double of last years number. It was heartening though for Goa that some of its government colleges continued to make it to the ranks list in their specific categories.
Goa College of Pharmacy was ranked 56th in the list for 75 best pharmacy institutes in the country. Though given the competition, it was not a surprise that Goa College of Pharmacy came down nine positions over its previous rank of 47. The institute has consistently made it to the best list in its category.

Uttarakhand governor Baby Rani Maurya resigns

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UttarakhandgovernorBaby Rani Mauryaresigned two years before completing her tenure amid speculation that she may be given some active role in politics.
She tendered her resignation to the President of India, aRaj Bhawanofficial said.

65-year-old Maurya who has long been associated with theBJPwas sworn in as the Uttarakhand governor on August 26, 2018, taking over from KrishnaKant Paulat the end of his five-year tenure.
She had completed three years in office as the Uttarakhand governor last month.
She has the distinction of being the first woman mayor of Agra from 1995 to 2000.
She had also been a member of the https://exam.pscnotes.com/national-commission-for-Women“>National Commission for Women from 2002-2005.

NIRF rankings out: 4 Uttar Pradesh medical institutions in Top 15

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Four medical institutions of UP have found a place among Top 15 best performing centres in the country in theNational Institutional Ranking Framework IndiaReport for 2021.
Sanjay Gandhi Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences (SGPGI) has been ranked fifth in the country with a score of 72.45.

The Institute of Medical Sciences, Banaras Hindu University, has been ranked 7th, King Georges Medical University Lucknow is 9th and the Institute of Medical Sciences, Aligarh Muslim University is 15th.
Compared to the rankings of 2020, SGPGI and IMS-AMU retained their spots, IMS-BHU slipped by one rank and KGMU went up by one rank. Each of the four centers though improved their overall scores this year. In all 50 medical institutes in the government and private sector were evaluated.
The ranking parameters broadly covered heads like TEACHING, Learning and Resources, research and professional practices, graduation outcomes, outreach and inclusivity and perception.

Madhya Pradesh government resumes monthly pension for gas widows

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The minister for gas relief and rehabilitation,Vishvas Sarang, gave away symbolic cheques to widowed Women in the 1984 Bhopal gas disaster at a simple function to mark the resumption of monthly pension of Rs1,000 to 4,558 gas widows.
The pension has been resumed from April 2021, and an amount of Rs5,000 for the last five months was transferred into their accounts.
Minister Sarang assured that the pension scheme that was started in April 2011, which has been discontinued twice, will not be discontinued anymore.

The scheme was first discontinued in April 2016, as the argued that it was only for five years in which theCentrewas sharing 75% of the financial burden and the state 25%.

The scheme was, however, resumed in January 2018, for two more years but in December 2019, the scheme was again discontinued by the then Kamal Nath-ledCongressgovernment.
On the gas disaster anniversary last year, chief ministerShivraj Singh Chouhanhad announced that the scheme would be resumed again and in July, an allocation of Rs5.40 crore was made through a cabinet decision to provide Rs1,000 to 4,500 gas widows from April 2021.

MSU placed among top 100 universities

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MS Universitygot some breather this year as it featured among thetop 100 universitiesof the country in the list of National Institute of Ranking Framework (NIRF) declared by the union ministry of Education.

For the last two years,MSUfeatured in the university rank band of 101 to 150 and before that it was not even among the top 200. However, this year the university is ranked 90th with a score of 39.48. MSUs best ranking has been 76th position when the rankings were declared for the first time in 2016.
This year,Gujarat Universityhas been ranked best from the state at 43rd position and Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University (PDPU) at 73rd position. In the overall ranking this year, MSU and PDPU continues to be in the rank band of 101 to 150.
The NIRF rankings were released for a total of 10 categories overall, universities, engineering, management, pharmacy, college, medical, law, architecture, dental and research.
Like every year, MSUs pharmacy faculty has made it to top-50 securing 24th position. Last year, it was at 14th position. Faculty of Technology and Engineering has also featured at 117th position out of 1,147 institutes adjudged.

11 EV charging stations to come up in ShillongEleven electric vehicle (EV) charging stations would be set up in Shillong, NITI Aayog vice-chairman Rajiv Kumar said.

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The charging stations would be set up under the Faster Adoption and Manufacturing of Electric (FAME II) scheme of the Centre

Each station will have 15 kwh DC-001 chargers and one 100 kw dual charge gun, making 66 charging points in the state capital, according to an official of the Ministry of Heavy Industries.

Assam varsity bags 93rd spot among top 100 universities in NIRF rankings

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Along with Assam varsity, three other universities of North East India including Gauhati University at 45th rank, Tezpur University at 46th position and North Eastern Hill University at 59th rank feature in the list of top 100 universities in the NIRF rankings.

Sharing his reactions on being ranked within the top 100 universities, Prof Dilip Chandra Nath, vice-chancellor of Assam University expressed happiness and said that with each passing day the varsity is making progress and aspires to perform better in the days ahead. In his words, “despite many difficulties, we are placed within the top 100 higher educational institutions as ranked by the NIRF. The rankings are based on the results of 2020 and this matter of inspiration for us. Among the central universities, we are ranked 11th which is also motivational for us to forge ahead. We are working continuously to address the issues which pose hurdles on our way and our TEACHING–Learning process, research and development have made commendable progress. We are hopeful to have much improved rankings in the coming years.”

CAG slams state of higher education

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The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has slammed the state of higher Education in Odisha in its recent report tabled in the assembly.

The report said gross enrolment ratio (GER) of 22.1% in Odisha between 2014 and 2019 is below the national Average of 26.30%. It slammed the for not devising specific plan to improve the ratio.

Despite SC/ST Population comprising around 40% of the states total population, the report said the GER and gender parity index of SC/ST categories remained below the national average.

The CAG also pointed out poor functioning of career counselling cells inUtkal University(UU),North Odisha University(NOU) and 32 known degree colleges. It said there was less than optimal functioning or complete absence of placement and career counselling cells and job fairs in these institutions while amount released to organize the job fair remained unutilized.

On an average 26.10% students of UU and 3.79% students of NOU could get placements through placements cells/job fairs between 2014 and 2019. UU and NOU had facilitated placement of 1,089 and 70 students, respectively, through job fairs during the period, said the CAG in its report.

Tamil Nadu-Denmark plan energy island in Gulf of Mannar

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State of Nadu and Denmark have planned to create anenergy islandin Gulf of Mannar that lies between the west coast of Sri Lanka and south-eastern tip of India.

This plan was made as Tamil Nadu is looking to expand its footprint in the green Energy sector.

To achieve this target, Denmark is likely to invest $5-10 billion in the RENEWABLE ENERGY sector in the state. It also includes Investment for anenergy islandin the Gulf of Mannar.

With this investment, island would be able to produce 4-10 GW of energy.

A delegation of experts from Denmark met Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, M K Stalin on September 8, 2021 to discuss the plan. If the plan materialises, it will be Indias first offshore floating wind park.

Tamil Nadu and Denmark made their plan for the investments, days after the Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) announced to launch 20,000 Mw of solar power projects with adequate battery storage, 2,000 Mw of gas-based power units and 3,000 Mw of pumped storage hydroelectric projects. These projects will require loans of about Rs 1.32 trillion.

Value of Danish investment in Tamil Nadu in the period of January 2003 to January 2021 is estimated at $ 751.72 million. Some of the Danish companies operating in Tamil Nadu include Maersk, Vestas, Cubic, Danfoss, Grundfos, and FLSmidth.

Kerala universities slip in NIRF rankings

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The ministry of Education released National Institutional Ranking Frameworks (NIRF) rankings of educational institutions for 2021 on Thursday. Though four universities in state continued to secure a position in the list of top 100 universities in India, the rankings of three fell compared to the 2020 list.

KeralaUniversity (KU), Thiruvananthapuram, came first in state by securing 27th rank followed by Mahatma Gandhi University (MGU), Kottayam (31), Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat, Kochi (44) and Calicut University (CU), Malappuram (60). While Cusat improved its rank (62 in 2020); the rank of KU (23), MGU (30) and CU (54) dipped.

In overall rankings of educational institutions KU topped with 43rd rank (42 in 2020). While MGU secured 52nd rank (49 in 2020), Cusat secured 65th rank (89 in 2020) and CU secured 95th rank (76 in 2020).

In the list of top 200 engineering institutes, Amrita School of Engineering (Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham) secured 16th rank. While NIT-Calicut secured 25th rank IIST, Thiruvananthapuram secured 40th rank and College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram secured 95th rank. Government Engineering College, Thrissur secured 156th rank.